Instructional Continuity

This page is archived for historical purposes. Information on this page might not be valid. If you have any questions, please contact the Distance Education office at DistanceEd@sac.edu.

​​Planning and Expectations

It is recommended that faculty discuss their instruction and communication plan with their students as soon as possible, allowing them to gain experience online​.

During the temporary closure, you must continue regular communication and delivery of course content.  Be ready to handle requests for extensions or accommodations equitably.

Identify your priorities during the campus closure, such as providing lectures, structuring new opportunities for discussion or group work, and collecting assignments. What types of activities can be provided during classroom closure?  You may need to think outside the box on this!  (e.g. virtual museum visits and reporting, discussions on reading material)  Which activities are better rescheduled and which can be done on Canvas?​​

Can you move practicums to a time in the semester when you're back in the classroom?

How will I .​​..?

  • Communicate with my students -- > Canvas Announcements, Canvas Messages, and Discussion boards
  • Deliver lecture/material content -- > Use ConferZoom and stream/record your lectures. Post/upload lecture materials, videos and content materials, narrated Powerpoint
  • ​Discussion  -- > Use a discussion board, take attendance during your Zoom lecture
  • Assess my students -- > Use Quizzes, Assignments (for papers, projects, file submissions, video submissions & more!)

 ​

What You Can Do!

Update Your Home ​​Page

Assure that your course information is updated on your Canvas Home page, Syllabus page, and your "Instructor Contact" page in your Course Information Module.

Communicate Through Announcements​

Post Announcements with written or recorded messages for your students.​ Communicate quickly and frequently. This is the fastest way to communicate with your entire class from within Canvas. Ask students to modify their notifications settings to make sure copies of Announcements are forwarded to their email address.

Canvas Announcement Overview Video​
Canvas Notification Preferences Video

Set up a Class Discussion

Setting up a Canvas discussion is the best way to allow instructors to discuss course content or assignments with students, for students to share work or ask questions, and attendance verification.  Create a graded discussion for each week requiring students to reply to the prompt and ideally respond to each other!  Your grade for that discussion will be your attendance verification.  Just like your classroom, this will be the fun part of the class!

Discussions Overview Video

Share Course Documents and Information with Files

Module Pages in Canvas provide a place for posting all course material. Add files such as documents, PDFs, slides, or spreadsheets.

Modules Overview Video
Pages Overview Video

Course Copy and Validate​ Links in​​​ Content​​

You can copy course content such as assignments, modules, pages, and discussions from previous Canvas courses into current courses. You only have access to copy content from courses from current or previous courses that you are enrolled in. Instructions on How to Copy a Course from the Previous Semester.

 

As an instructor, you can verify all links throughout your course to ensure they are valid. It is important to make sure all the links in your course work properly. You can check these links using the course link validator, which searches through course content and returns invalid or unresponsive links in both published and unpublished content. Perform the link validator after you've copied course content to the current course, here is How to Validate Links in Content.

Post your Lecture

Record your lecture, instructor message, or screenshare.

  • Lecture​ for your students using your cell phone (Android, iPhone) or webcam and upload file to Canvas or to YouTube and embed in Canvas.
  • Canvas Rich Content Editor tool to record your video. The limitation is 2GB.  Best practices suggest that videos should be segmented in sections of no longer than 5 to 7 minutes.
  • Record your screen and narrate using Screen​cast-o-matic for short, simple 15-minute videos. (Scre​encast instructions)
  • Screencast-O-Matic Pro is also available with an account available through an email request to the DE Office. This tool allows the editing of videos and longer length videos.
  • Schedule, host, and record a ConferZoom session with or without your students. You can then share the video in your course. Zoom has additional features like breakout rooms and the ability to "raise your hand.

    Canvas Rich Content Editor Vide​o
  • ConferZo​om
  • ​You should not need to create an account.
  • Post an Announcement in your course notifying students of the date and time of the meeting.  Let them know they can access the meeting through the Zoom tab in your Canvas
  • ​​Record the meeting​​ for students who are not able to attend. Recording options are available both when scheduling the meeting in Canvas and during the session. 
  • Consider offering office hours through ConferZoom
  • Big Blue Button (Conference) in Canvas 
  • Easy to use and record
  • ​Pronto in Canvas
  • This synchronous application is already running for all SAC courses!
  • An equitable tool students love it because it easily works on their phone using chat/video/audio/images, much like your own group phone message.

 

Note: If you are receiving "time out" error in ConferZoom, it could be your internet connection is unstable or too many Conferzoom sessions going on at the same time. If this happens, click "refresh" on your browser.

 

Assignments​​ & Grading

Assignments in Canvas allows students to submit assignments online, as well as allowing instructors to grade and provide feedback online. Students are able to submit most filetypes; Word, pdf, spreadsheet, images, videos.  The Canvas assignment creates a grade column in your Canvas gradebook allowing you to score and provide feedback when evaluating student work.

Assignment Overview Video
Gradebook Overview Video

Quizzes

Canvas quizzes are used to create and administer online quizzes and surveys. A quiz in Canvas can be graded, non-graded, a graded survey, and a non-graded survey. Canvas quiz options are date availability, multiple attempts, and timer capability.

  • Publisher Test Banks: If you use a publisher test bank, chances are they have a Canvas formatted version.
  • Tests: If you have your own tests in Word, you can deliver your quizzes online in Canvas Quizzes.
  • You will need to key in, or copy/paste the questions and answer choices.  For True/False and Multiple Choice questions Canvas will auto-grade.  If any essay/short answer questions are used, the final quiz score will be held until you score those questions.
  • How do I create a quiz with individual questions?
  • Respondus may also be a helpful Canvas test formatting tool.
  • Tips
  • Be flexible on quiz availability.  Though your students are available in class on Tuesday at 9 am, now with children at home, sick family members or perhaps not having access to a device at your class meeting time, it would be best to make the quiz available for a longer period of time.
  • You can allow particular students extra time for accommodations or extra attempts.
  • Your tools for student guidance are:
  • Duration (time allocated)
  • Attempts (one or multiple)
  • Availability (Start and End date/time of quiz availability)
  • Proctorio
  • A Canvas integrated software that allows observation during an exam for faculty to observe the student in time delay. The software provides identification validation and activity monitoring during an online exam.

Quizzes Overview Video

Accessibility​​​​

All material you add to the course must be accessible to all students. Accessibility information can be found in the following resources:

​Educational Multimedia Services Department​

If you are in need of support or assistance in creating lecture videos using personal devices (iPhone, Android, Tablet, Laptop), using Screencast-O-Matic, uploading recorded videos to YouTube or require additional media assistance, contact Joe Pacino at 714-564-6723 or Brian Yoder at 714-564-6724.